WASHINGTON-Acknowledging that equipment is not widely available, the Federal Communications Commission is giving carriers advice on how to file for extensions if they cannot meet the June 30 deadline to comply with the digital wiretap act.
Under the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, telecom carriers must deploy updated technology that allows law enforcement to conduct wiretaps in an age when most phone equipment is digital. The 1994 law has frustrated industry, law enforcement and the commission in part because CALEA-compliant equipment is not widely available.
As rules stand today, carriers are required to deploy technology that has been available since the end of 1997 by June 30. Carriers are expected to install equipment with more advanced wiretapping capabilities before Sept. 30, 2001.
The FCC last week released a public notice on how to file an extension and said it expects to rule on those requests by March 31, 2001. The agency said carriers that are not granted extensions will be given time frames in which they must comply with the law.
The FCC said it was giving the telecommunications industry information on how to file for extensions because “CALEA-compliant equipment and software has not become available as extensively as industry had expected.” Only Nortel Networks has publicly said that its latest upgrades contain the CALEA-compliant technology.
Carriers are encouraged to participate in the FBI’s Flexible Deployment Program, designed to deploy digital wiretap technology in areas with the most wiretap activity first. For carriers serving communities that do not have a historic demand for wiretaps and that participate in the FBI program, the FBI is expected to tell the FCC that an extension would not endanger public safety.
